Saturday, July 9, 2011

I debated whether or not to keep this blog strictly about pregnancy, birth, baby, marriage, family etc. I had to have this discussion with myself because I wanted to share some cute, and simple, crafty things I've done recently. I thought that maybe I should not put that here. Then I thought that was crazy talk, because what am I if not crafty? So, the debate is over. I will share whatever I want on my blog. Yep, it's mine. I guess I have control over that.

Without further ado...my shirts!
(I'll apologize in advance for the poor quality photos. They came from my cell phone and at the time my goal was cute shirts, not great photos.)

For the first shirt, I refashioned an old, super comfy, super soft tee shirt using a bleach pen. That's right! You actually want to get bleach on your clothes for this project. I got the idea here. Actually, I first saw it on Pinterest, but this is where the idea stems from.

I recommend putting something between the layers of your shirt, otherwise the design will bleed through. I used a piece of cardboard. I'm sure you could use some wax paper or even a plastic bag. I started to draw out my design with chalk. Not so easy on a loosey goosey teeshirt that likes to stretch every which way. I quickly gave up on that and just went in blind with my bleach pen. If you look closely, you'll see there are both a turquoise and a white part of my design. The green in my shirt bleached out differently depending on how long the bleach was left on. Once I realized that, I did what I wanted in white first. At the very end I added a few lines and dots that I intended to be the bluish tint. Once my design was done and my colors lifted I rinsed the whole shirt in cold water to stop the bleaching. I'd like to tell you that I then promptly put it in the washing machine for a quick wash and dry and put it away neatly in my dresser. I did not. It hung up (after the cold rinse) at my studio for a few days, then it sat in the back of my car for the weekend, spent a day or two in the dirty laundry pile and just recently made it out of the dryer. That's how I roll. All in all, I'm happy with my NEW shirt. For less than $4 (the cost of the bleach pen) I can turn multiple old shirts into new shirts. Love that!

For the second shirt, I rocked that Old Navy $2 tank sale. I bought 5 tanks in fabulous colors and plan to turn them into something amazing, adorable, fabulous, what have you?! With this little purple gem I took some inexpensive left over fabric and cut circles. 3 per flower in various sizes for a variety of flower sizes. Once I had my circles, I snipped four parts into them to add some dimension. I stitched them together and then on to the shirt (after laying them out multiple times to find a pattern that I liked.) Once they were on the shirt I used some fabric and gem glue to add little buttons to the center of each flower. For this shirt I chose to use all of the same buttons. You can use all different types, like my friend Rachel did, and it also looks amazing. You can't go wrong with this idea. It is so simple and inexpensive. Oh, and I do not sew. That means that if you also do not sew, you can still make this shirt. I don't consider threading a needle and doing a few quick stitches sewing.

*Just a side note on shirt number two. I had to put it on and mark with some chalk (or maybe I used a Crayola colored pencil, I don't remember) where there were gaps. When the shirt is flat there were no gaps. Once it was on and stretched out a bit, those flowers seperated. No big deal. Just whip up a few extra flowers and fill in the holes.